A total of 137 different marine actinomycetes were isolated from deep sea sediment samples collected from the Bay of Bengal. Among them,85 isolates were tested for antibacterial activity against two human pathogenic bacteria,Staphylococcus aureus methicillin resistant) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as well as an antibiotic sensitive bacterial strain Bacillus pumilus. All the 85 isolates exhibited antibacterial activity. Based on the screening results,10 marine actinomycetes were selected and tested against methycillin resistant S. aureus. Out of these five isolates showed good antibacterial activity and the nine among 10 isolates obtained were from estuarine sediments.

Bay of Bengal, marine actinomycetes, antibacterial activity, estuary